A fairly disjointed opening day performance was to be expected, however, an explosive and clinical showing from Jodi Jones was a pleasant surprise and ensured that we hit the ground running results-wise.

It’s too early to tell how much we’ll need to improve to win promotion. However, we should aspire to be able to retain possession better than we did in the second-half where we went too direct and allowed Notts County to build some attacking momentum, which they made little of. By that same token, the defence seemed fortunate too that the opposition lacked ideas in attack.

Having got the win on Saturday, it would have been nice to either have a week’s rest or be able to build some momentum in the league. Mark Robins stated after the game on Saturday that he will rest players for this game against Blackburn, so this game will be a bit of a free-hit against opposition from a higher division.

With a slightly imbalanced squad at this moment in time, Robins only has so much wiggle room in which to make changes. Liam O’Brien is likely to retain his place in goal, with Rod McDonald and Dominic Hyam also looking certain to start too. Chris Stokes reportedly played through an injury on Saturday, which could see Chris Camwell or Darragh Leahy handed a chance at left-back. Robins could also be tempted to see what Dion Kelly-Evans can do at right-back after a nervy performance from Jack Grimmer against Notts County.

Possible Line-Up

In midfield, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ben Stevenson step in to allow either Liam Kelly or Michael Doyle a rest. Devon Kelly-Evans seems likely to make his first start for the club, although it’s hard to tell who out of Jodi Jones and Peter Vincenti Robins would want to rest, one of those two will have to start given our lack of wide options.

Finally, Stuart Beavon and Marc McNulty both look set for a rest too after finding themselves in the wars on Saturday. Duckens Nazon and Maxime Biamou each made excellent contributions from the bench against Notts County which should see them get the chance to start this game. However, Kwame Thomas and possibly even Jordan Ponticelli could find themselves involved in this game at some point.

Last Time We Met

When we last met Blackburn, back in 2009, we were a Championship side and they were an established Premier League team, how times change. After a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park, Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers were on the wrong end of an FA Cup upset at the Ricoh Arena. Leon Best scored the winning goal for Chris Coleman’s Coventry City, back in the days when we were still fairly happy about our new owners SISU, how times change.

How Are They Doing?

In case you weren’t aware, Blackburn’s current manager is Tony Mowbray. Mowbray’s reign at Ewood Park thus far has drawn uncanny parallels with this time here, except for a few important differences. Firstly, Mowbray was unable to save Blackburn from the drop despite providing an initial lift upon his arrival in the second half of the season. Secondly, Mowbray has attempted to quickly re-model the team, only he’s had much better backing to do so than he had at Coventry City.

Mowbray’s recruitment at Blackburn over the summer could easily be confused for the signings he would have made at Coventry City had he the funds. Dominic Samuel is a player he managed while with us, and had seemingly tried hard to bring back to the club, while, Ben Gladwin was someone we were linked with back in January 2016, before it all fell apart. In addition, Middlesbrough winger Harry Chapman seems to fit in with the profile of young, exciting, England youth international that saw Ryan Kent, Adam Armstrong and Jacob Murphy signed by Mowbray for the Sky Blues, while Bradley Dack was someone who had his best season for Gillingham in the same year that Mowbray’s Coventry City were challenging for promotion with the Gills.

However, unlike in Mowbray’s first full season with us, his side lost on opening day and were seemingly fairly insipid in doing so. Mowbray could well see this game as an opportunity to bed his new-look side together, however, they appear to be carrying a few injuries which will necessitate making a number of changes to the line-up.

Possible Line-Up

After playing 3-4-3 for much of last season, Mowbray has seemingly built this Blackburn side to play the 4-2-3-1 that has been fairly typical of his career. On Saturday, things didn’t quite click into gear in attack, with Dominic Samuel used out wide, where he’s much less effective. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Samuel moved into the lone striker role, with an energetic and creative trio of Liam Feeney, Ben Gladwin and Harry Chapman just behind him.

Blackburn are fairly short in numbers in defence, which could well see free-kick expert and centre-back Charlie Mulgrew, who has been strongly linked with a move away from the club, used in this League Cup tie. Right-back Ryan Nyambe is another to look out for, he’ll provide energy and a physical presence from full-back, although he was seemingly targeted fairly successfully by Southend on Saturday.

Prediction

Given the number of changes both managers are likely to make, this is a tough game to predict. The onus will be on the players selected by either side to view the game as an opportunity to impress, rather than go through the notions in the knowledge they’ll return to the bench on Saturday.

The depth of quality in Blackburn’s squad should make them heavy favourites for this game, however, they are in the early stages of coming together as a team and this should be viewed as an opportunity to cause a bit of an upset. Whether Mark Robins sees this game the same way remains to be seen until he names his side. I think we’ll win this game 1-0.

After two seasons of needing results in the final weeks of the season to secure survival, the season being effectively over before the start of April remains a familiar feeling. A limp defeat at home to Colchester, summed up by an easily-saveable Jacob Murphy penalty, sums it all up – we’ve had every opportunity to arrest this slump but have lacked the nerve to take any of them.

All that’s left to play for is pride, based on the evidence of this run we’ve been on, it’s not exactly something we’ve seen in droves from this side. With a month of just about the toughest possible fixtures remaining, this slide looks unlikely to end before the season is out.

Although it’s hardly ideal to be considering sacking another manager, this isn’t just a bad run of form, not over 21 games. I really want Tony Mowbray to be our manager next season but we can’t just limp through the rest of the season in the hope that next will be better. We saw with Chris Coleman what happens when you just let a manager off the hook for letting another season peter out.

Possible Line-Up

A trip to one of the teams with strongest home records in the division doesn’t hold out much hope. The return of Adam Armstrong is a boost but we just aren’t creating enough chances for him to be effective. Trying to play Joe Cole and Marc-Antoine Fortuné in the same frontline has taken out so much of the dynamism that worked so well for us earlier in the season, at least one should be dropped to facilitate Armstrong’s return.

In an ideal world, Sam Ricketts would be dropped from the team too with his performances remaining abject for a defender of his experience. It’s not that he’s lost pace but his decision-making and positional play has been poor. With Chris Stokes still injured and Ryan Haynes out on loan, Mowbray is certain to persevere with his captain.

Last Time We Met

You would imagine that following our previous meeting with Gillingham, our forthcoming opponents will have extra motivation to capitalise on our brittle confidence. Back in November a Gillingham side who looked rather flat for a side engaged in a second vs first game, were shellacked in a twelve-minute four-goal blitz at the Ricoh Arena. A Jacob Murphy hat-trick and Ben Turner header rendered a second-half in which Gillingham made a reasonable attempt at getting back into the game academic. The intent and dynamism of our first-half performance is a far cry from the slow, stodgy football being served up right now.

How Are They Doing?

Gillingham have been resilient near the top of the table this season, thanks in no small part down to the management of Justin Edinburgh. Since the former Newport and Rushden manager’s arrival, Gillingham have transformed from relegation candidates to genuine promotion contenders, all achieved via combination of free transfers and loan signings (it can be done).

Having started the season so well, Gillingham haven’t been in amazing form, sitting just 12th in the form table since the turn of the year. Yet unlike us, they haven’t fallen completely to pieces as the season has progressed but have generally been able to grind out results when the situation has called for it.

Injuries to their two key players – midfielder Bradley Dack and centre-back John Egan – have played a large role in disrupting some of the early momentum they’ve built-up. Without a direct replacement for Dack, Gillingham had to alter their tactics having lost the ability to force it through the middle more directly. Hard-as-nails Adam El-Abd has stood in for Egan fairly well although lacks the same mobility.

Possible Line-Up

Andrew Crofts has recently returned to the club on loan from Brighton. Having been a strong performer as box-to-box midfielder at Championship level, his signing should be seen as something of a coup for Gillingham. He’ll be joined in midfield by Josh Wright who is enjoying his most consistent season having previously impressed intermittently at Scunthorpe and Leyton Orient.

There is plenty of pace in this Gillingham side, with wing-backs Ryan Jackson and Bradley Garmston having impressed this season with their ability to stretch the play. Similarly fast, Dominic Samuel in attack was mightily impressive for us last season but has registered a slightly underwhelming seven in 22 for the Gills. Ben Dickenson, Luke Norris and Jermaine McGlashan also add to Gillingham’s vast array of pacey footballers.

Prediction

There was a suggestion this week from Sam Ricketts that somehow, we may be better off playing the better teams in this division, but the length of this run suggests to me that whoever we play, we’re struggling against at this moment in time. With Gillingham boasting a strong record at home and with a strong motivation to avenge a humiliating defeat earlier in the season, it’s hard to look at this fixture with even a quantum of hope.

Back in January of last year we threw away a 1-0 defeat with three goals conceded in the final 10 minutes at the Priestfield Stadium. With the players having to trudge past the away stand to get back into the dressing room, they were subjected to a torrent of abuse from the travelling fans. Having hit the heights that we did since that game, it’s a depressing thought that we could be heading back full circle come the final whistle on Saturday.

I can only see a fairly hefty defeat coming our way, a 4-1 win to Gillingham.

To confirm what a manic depressive football club we are, the creeping pessimism of last week has been long forgotten after an impressive away win and the subsequent return of two former favourite players in Ben Turner and Gael Bigirimana. We now head into a top-of-the-table clash with Gillingham with a genuine sense of momentum that comes with believing that this is, perhaps, our year.

Of course, it would be just like Coventry City to let everyone down when it really matters, or to completely fall apart after a positive start. It’s important to remember that there are 28 league games after this one, nothing will be decided on Saturday at 5pm. That’s not to say that a win would be bloody marvellous though.

The arrivals of Ben Turner and Gael Bigirimana to the squad and the returns of Ryan Kent and Adam Armstrong from international duty suddenly gives this squad genuine strength in depth. With the same group of players who lost so pitifully to Northampton in the cup having made amends at Colchester last weekend, there are difficult team selection decisions ahead for Tony Mowbray to make.

Possible Line-Up

Jacob Murphy excelled in the centre of that line of three and there must be a strong temptation for Tony Mowbray to leave it as it is. That would mean the returning Adam Armstrong would replace Marc-Antoine Fortuné in the starting line-up, which may affect the effectiveness of that line of three playing behind the striker. Ryan Kent is also a consideration and would be likeliest to replace Ruben Lameiras but might be best used as an impact sub on his return from international duty.

In defence, it’s almost assured that Aaron Phillips will be sacrificed in the team for Ben Turner with Sam Ricketts moving to right-back. By most accounts, Phillips had an excellent game last week and it would be another case of bad luck in his career to miss out after displaying that he has improved after making mistakes. Losing Phillips would also leave us prone to the pace of Gillingham on the counter-attack but you’re not going to not play Ben Turner and Sam Ricketts in such a big game.

Last Time We Met

Never have two games against a single team in one league season come at almost the perfect zenith and nadir of a campaign. The last time we played Gillingham, we lost 3-1, effectively spelling the end of Steven Pressley’s reign. After taking the lead from the spot via Gary Madine, Gillingham equalised in the 82nd minute before taking advantage of a penalty of their own in the 88th and then sealing a remarkable comeback with a third goal in second-half stoppage time.

It was quite different earlier in the season when we Gillingham in our first league game at the Ricoh Arena after over a year in exile. Just under 30,000 Coventry City fans packed into the stadium to witness an event that did not seem likely to happen at all during a dark 13 months for the club. For once, a Coventry City team played up to the big occasion and got the result when Frank Nouble placed Ryan Haynes‘ cut-back into the back of the net, cue delirium.

How Are They Doing?

Ever since returning to League One just over two season ago, Gillingham have largely been also-rans, more likely to leave the division via relegation than promotion. That comeback win over us last January was the beginning of a process that has seen Gillingham transform from being also-rans to being pace-setters.

Manager Justin Edinburgh arrived around about a month after that win and has fully capitalised on the form that the club’s caretaker managers left the team by ending the season strongly and making some astute signings in the transfer market. Edinburgh was left a talented but raw team by his predecessor Peter Taylor but has harnessed every single drop of talent in his squad to put them in the position they currently occupy, top.

The absolute key player for Gillingham is attacking midfielder Bradley Dack. Not only does he have an excellent eye for a pass but he is very mobile which gives him the ability to either play a through-ball or beat or a defender all by himself. Having been a mainstay of the side over the past few seasons, this has been the campaign where he has really broken through and proven himself to be a standout performer at this level.

John Egan in central defence is another young and emerging star who looks to have a bright future ahead of him. The former Sunderland youth-teamer was immaculate for Gillingham during a season of struggle last time out and has continued to show himself to be a class act now that he’s part of a winning team. Another player to watch out for from defence is the pacey Bradley Garmston at left-back.

Possible Line-Up

The rest of the Gillingham team is made up of hard-working runners who help secure the tight team mentality that has been the cornerstone of their season. Josh Wright playing in front of the defence has finally added consistency to the talent he has shown in glimpses throughout his career. Captain Doug Loft, who may not be selected for this game, is another hard-runner who has been an important team player this time out.

Gillingham also have the benefit of having three ex-Coventry City strikers currently on their books. Dominic Samuel, who I’m absolutely mortified has signed for Gillingham, is a player we all know about and will look to catch our slow centre-backs out with his pace. Bad boy Rory Donnelly has been something of a revelation for Gillingham this season and is someone you feel would relish the inevitably hostile reception he’ll receive. Cody McDonald has been out of favour this season but is an absolutely classic goal poacher at League One level when he’s on the pitch.

Prediction

My mood regarding this game has been swinging violently in either direction during the week. I have two visions with oddly specific details of how this game pans out: the first is that Ben Turner scores from a corner in the 5th minute, Bigi scores a screamer in the 88th and Armstrong scores somewhere in between and we win 3-0. The second is that Dominic Samuel tears through our slow defence in the 18th minutes, Gillingham sit on that lead expertly and Rory Donnelly scores a screamer in the 85th minute, celebrating with glee right in front of Singer’s Corner.

Just in case you couldn’t tell from reading these previews, I don’t have the ability to predict the future, so it’s likely that neither will turn out to be true. What this game is, is a match-up between two teams with momentum, confidence and packed with dangerous match-winning players. I am just about feeling optimistic about this game and my more rational prediction for this game is that we will win 3-2.

Another home game, another three points handed to the visiting team. This time it was probably our costliest incidence of the season of gift-wrapping a limited opposition the win at the Ricoh Arena, with Orient now on a run of form that will probably see them sail their way to safety. With five of our six remaining games against fellow relegation strugglers, that generosity has to be stamped out.

It wasn’t just the defeat, we were arguably the better team, it was the lack of incisiveness, especially after falling behind. Tony Mowbray’s appointment has lifted the team from the desperate situation it was in a month ago but it is alarming that we have yet to take a single point from a losing position since his arrival. Along with the poor home form, this inability to fight back from falling behind will have to be addressed if we are to stay up.

Dominic Samuel’s season-ending injury leaves the Sky Blues relying on some inconsistent players to shoot us to safety.

The biggest blow of all has been the loss of Dominic Samuel to injury. The Reading loanee has been our only reliable goal-scorer this season and the penetration he provides is hard to find elsewhere in the team. That performance against Orient where Frank Nouble failed to register a shot on goal, Sanmi Odelusi and Jim O’Brien were ineffectual too, left young George Thomas with far too much of the attacking burden than he could handle. If the loss of Samuel is to be softened, the senior attacking players in the team will have to take more responsibility than they did on Wednesday night.

For this coming trip to Notts County, we need big game performers, making the return of Reda Johnson to the squad a vital boost for the team. With Johnson in the team, our form is play-off worthy and our current league position is an indication of just how long we have been without him. Johnson’s struggles for fitness will probably mean that Mowbray will not be tempted to throw him back into the team right away but his presence in the match-day squad should lift the confidence of the team after a potentially devastating result last time out.

Dominic Samuel’s injury absence, coupled with that of Marcus Tudgay has made the return of wunderkind James Maddison more vital than it had been. Maddison is set for a place on the bench after impressing Mowbray in under-21s performances, he’ll be joined by the misfiring German striker Nick Proschwitz who has plenty of room for improvement after his first three games for the club.

Notts County will win the award this season for being the most cynical side to play at the Ricoh Arena. Under Shaun Derry, Notts kicked, dived and time-wasted their way to a 1-0 win that put them in touch of the top two back in November. They were a limited team but one that was playing to a common goal and knew how to get the very best out of their abilities, something that this Coventry City side has failed to do this season. A cast-iron penalty shout from a foul on Gary Madine was our only hope for a point as Notts County expertly held on for all three points.

How Are They Doing?

In the 23 league games that Notts County have had since they played us back in November, they have won just three games and now find themselves mired in the relegation battle. Shaun Derry was sacked three weeks ago and the club have recently failed to appoint Martin Jol’s former assistant manager Ricardo Moniz. Whilst those three wins have all come against side in a similar league position to where we currently are, their home form has been poor which probably makes us slight favourites here.

Notts County’s team is a fairly limited one overall but caretaker manager Paul Hart has plenty of experience to call upon which could swing the match in Notts’ favour. The spine of the team of Roy Carroll in goal, Hayden Mullins in defence, Gary Jones in midfield and Garry Thompson their top-scorer are all older than 34. This is a team with the ability to really bully our young team in all areas of the pitch.

Up front they have the powerful Hungary international Balint Bajner who has been a somewhat frustrating presence in the team since joining in January from Ipswich. In his career Bajner has been subject to a meme in Hungary of ‘No Bajner, No Party’ which saw the club block their Facebook page in Hungary soon after his arrival. The forward has two goals in 13 appearances but his height of six foot five makes him a significant presence up top.

Notts County have been boosted by the return of Jimmy Spencer to full fitness after the ex-Huddersfield forward scored the goals that helped the club to a miraculous survival last season. Spencer is another physically occupying centre-forward who will test the mettle of Aaron Martin and Matthew Pennington. Top-scorer Garry Thompson has been a winger throughout his career but has been used mainly as an emergency centre-forward where his work-rate causes problems.

There are also two ex-players in the Notts County ranks in the form of Blair Adams and Billy Daniels. However it is possible that neither could be involved in this game, which is especially surprising in the case of Blair Adams where Lincoln City loanee Sean Newton has been preferred for his set-piece delivery. Daniels, after scoring a spectacular goal on his debut, has failed to nail down a starting spot in the Notts County team.

You only have to cast your mind back to our relegation season from the Championship to remember how key these fixtures over the Easter period can be in a relegation scrap. Back then, it was a momentum-turning defeat to Bristol City on Easter Monday that meant that a supposedly kind remaining fixture list of ‘easy’ home fixtures could not be capitalised upon. A defeat here would not be as grave as it was three years ago but it would really place the pressure on our poor home form to save our backsides.

Those of you who have listened to this week’s Nii Lamptey Show (and if you haven’t you really should), will know that I have predicted a 2-0 win for us in this game. I’m not entirely sure why I predicted two goals and a clean sheet, perhaps a couple of bloots forward from Lee Burge catching the wind will help us on the way. I am going to stick with my prediction of a Sky Blues victory.

One of these days supporting Coventry City will provide some sort of cardiac failure for me. For about three minutes after Frank Nouble put us 3-1 up against Chesterfield that cloud of anxiety that usually comes with supporting this club had assuaged. Yet as soon as I remembered that it was Coventry City that I supported and nothing is ever safe, Chesterfield pulled a goal back and it was back to usual, familiar, anxiety that we are all so accustomed to.

The job was eventually seen through and it proved to be a valuable win after Leyton Orient smashed Yeovil Town to threaten us with the bottom four. Orient look set to vacate the relegation zone in an upwards fashion in the next few weeks, that win on Saturday goes a long way to ensuring that their resurgence won’t be at the expense of our League One status.

A no from Tony to setting points targets.

I sincerely doubt that Tony Mowbray is someone who looks at points targets, but if we are to assume that 52 points will keep us up, we ideally need four wins from the final 10 games. Not winning on Saturday would have meant that we could have needed to win exactly half of our remaining games to stay up. Still, a win against Fleetwood in this forthcoming game will reduce that minimum target of wins to just three in nine. As bad as our situation has looked for the past month or so, putting together a couple of wins will make a massive difference.

The Wolves captain Sam Ricketts seems set to sign at the time of writing but this game may come too soon for him to be involved despite reports that he travelled with the squad to Saturday’s game. His signing on loan makes Chris Stokes position at left-back seem precarious although Ricketts can play anywhere across the back and it seems likely that we could turn Stokes into a permanent signing should Mowbray so wish.

The return of Jim O’Brien presents Mowbray’s biggest selection headache after Spurs loanee Grant Ward put in a solid debut as a holding midfielder which freed up John Fleck to get forward more and after Adam Barton impressed as a right-sided midfielder. Captain O’Brien has been in really mixed form over the past few months and at times his performances have seemed detrimental to the team as a whole. O’Brien definitely has a role to play for the rest of the season, it would just be harsh to drop anyone from midfield after Saturday’s win.

One of the strangest moments of the season came during our last, and only previous, meeting against Fleetwood Town. It was a fairly drab game in which Fleetwood took the lead slightly against the run of play. Only, you wouldn’t have known that Fleetwood had actually scored judging from the decibel level at the Ricoh Arena, I can’t have been the only one who thought that the goal had either hit the side-netting or been disallowed.

The Sky Blues blustered through the rest of the game, trying mainly to play long balls towards Gary Madine and seeing what happened after that. Just as it looked like we were going to lose another dismal game at the Ricoh Arena without really putting pressure on the opposition, James Maddison’s introduction actually led to us threatening our opponents. Although Maddison was not directly involved in the goal, yet another long ball towards Madine from which Simeon Jackson pounced on the flick-on, the youngster gave us some much-needed impetus in the final third to earn us the point.

How Are They Doing?

Fleetwood have managed to stick around the top half of this division for most of the season, based on having a remarkably stingy defence and some strong form at home. Graham Alexander’s side are not necessarily defensive in their approach but are set up in a way that’s hard for opponents to break down. The main thing that’s been holding Fleetwood back has been the lack of an out-and-out goalscoring centre-forward, although sitting just two points off the play-offs shows that it’s not hurting them that badly.

Remarkably for a team chasing the play-offs, their top-scorer is a midfielder with only seven goals.

Their current top-scorer is Blackburn loanee midfielder Josh Morris who has seven goals this season. A tidy box-to-box midfielder, the left-footed Morris’ work-rate makes him an important player in Graham Alexander’s side. The manager’s style of play seems to suit hard-working players with the more creative Antoni Sarcevic and Stephen Dobbie having struggled for form over the course of the season.

Marshalling the defence is former Stevenage captain Mark Roberts who has been ever-present since joining at the start of last season, playing a major role in their promotion from League Two and now in their push for the play-offs. A commanding centre-back, who may not be the quickest on the ground but the way Fleetwood pack the midfield has meant that he has been rarely exposed in that manner. Also in defence, right-back Conor McLaughlin has impressed over the past few years, drawing glances from the richer League One clubs and a few Championship sides.

Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell has also been an important player in keeping Fleetwood’s defensive record so tight. The former Wrexham stopper has made the position his own since returning from a loan spell in the Conference 12 months ago and is now developing a reputation as one of the better keepers in the division.

As vital as Saturday’s win was, it would be all for nought if we were unable to get any kind of result here with Orient starting to pick up form. If we are going to save ourselves, we will need to pick up some momentum and these Saturday-Tuesday weeks can transform the short-term outlook of your season very quickly. Fleetwood is a tough place to go and get a result, they are one of those teams that can be hard to break-down once they take the lead. They will also be looking at this game as a chance to go into the play-off spots and their recent experiences of promotion will mean that they are used to grinding out results at this time of the season.

The goals are starting to come again under Tony Mowbray, so I would back us to score in this game. Given that Fleetwood can struggle in front of goal at times, I can see this finishing as a 1-1 draw.

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